Ryoken's Guide to Rust Treatment and Bodywork 101

[Chief Brody]

I'm trying to figure out if I need to remove the GM Plate in my driver's side doorjamb....I would rather keep it...but sanding and painting around it may be too difficult...how hard are they ro put back on if you take them off? rivet gun? would you remove it?

 

[ryoken]

tape it off with a couple layers of masking tape and prep/strip up to it.. single edge razor blade is your friend.. unless you see signs of bubbling paint, etc under it..

are they standard blind rivets?

 

[Chief Brody]

tape it off with a couple layers of masking tape and prep/strip up to it.. single edge razor blade is your friend.. unless you see signs of bubbling paint, etc under it..

are they standard blind rivets?

problem is I'm changing colors...and it does look messy behind it...

 

[ryoken]

those are standard rivets, easy enough... just drill with a slightly oversized bit for the center hole until the heads pop off em.. then just punch the rivet thru with a small punch...

 

[Chief Brody]

It's going to be fun outside tomorrow....weve been at 95~100 degrees for the last 5 days and will be for the next two weeks at least...high humidity...talk about sweating...it will be tough to keep from sweating all over the bare metal as I strip the paint and rust off the floorboards...

first the killer tornados, now the blistering heat

 

[ryoken]

eesh.. it was 95 here the other day... what I do? hung out in an engine room with my shooters muffs on with a pair of monster diesels screaming on a test run.. musta been 140 in there..


anyway.. drink lots of water! .... and/or beer...

 

[Chief Brody]

I brushed on the rust convertor yesterday and have to let it dry for 48 hours...interesting product...it's goes on like milk and dries to a sort of light tar wash...it doesn't build at all...

after I fill with Everglass, what is the best thing to top that off with? Some kind of primer....or sealer....or epoxy...

if primer, what kind of primer?

 

[ryoken]

yes, yes it is... just a good fill primer like you put on the exterior.. same treatment, spot zinc on raw, yada, yada..

 

[tRustyK5]

If you look at those rivets a little closer you'll see they're not 'standard' pop rivets. The heads on them are octagonal, not something you can just go out and buy. That makes it quite easy to see if the VIN plate has been changed...and once you have generic round head rivets who is to say it hasn't been changed? Sure, you can confirm the numbers against the frame numbers, but they're a pain to find and read. Do you need that kind of PITA?

Of course you could buy a selection of rivets and file the heads to match the correct GM VIN rivets...

Rene

 

[Chief Brody]

If you look at those rivets a little closer you'll see they're not 'standard' pop rivets. The heads on them are octagonal, not something you can just go out and buy. That makes it quite easy to see if the VIN plate has been changed...and once you have generic round head rivets who is to say it hasn't been changed? Sure, you can confirm the numbers against the frame numbers, but they're a pain to find and read. Do you need that kind of PITA?

Of course you could buy a selection of rivets and file the heads to match the correct GM VIN rivets...

Rene

If I cover the plate real good, I wonder if I can get close enough that no blue paint will show after it is painted? The sticker in the glovebox also matches this VIN...so I at least know the id of the cab....

 

[Chief Brody]

OK...I got two coats of the Eastwood Rust Convertor on and 48 hours have passed...do I need to put more on?
I cannot get that blue thing and the vent out in the picture with the arrow.
Also, I burned through two $10 "nylon" abrasive wheels trying to strip all the blue off...as you can see I couldn't get it all...like under the gas pedal...and my sandblaster is useless right now..but theres no rust there anyway...is mainly all in the place where your feet go and in the trough....it isn't pretty...

 

[ryoken]

that's fine... when it's nice and dry, run a scuff pad in the pitted, to be filled area. clean it... hard cross drag over the pitted areas... you want to just be filling pits and seeing metal here and there.. sand with 80.. scuffpad surrounding converter... prime...

 

[ryoken]

what is your final floor surface? paint, bedliner, carpet?

 

[Chief Brody]

what is your final floor surface? paint, bedliner, carpet?

I'm going to paint it, then heat sheild/sound insulator, then dark saddle carpet...

 

[76zimmer]

Hey Chief, if you take your time and try to remove the vent panel, it will come off. You need to remove it staight out away from the kickpanel, you don't need to yank hard, it should come off with a little effort if you pull on it evenly and straight. Good luck, the truck is looking awesome.

 

[Chief Brody]

Hey Chief, if you take your time and try to remove the vent panel, it will come off. You need to remove it staight out away from the kickpanel, you don't need to yank hard, it should come off with a little effort if you pull on it evenly and straight. Good luck, the truck is looking awesome.

Thanks...I was trying to pry it with a flathead srewdriver...I'll try straight out...

 

[ryoken]

I'm going to paint it, then heat sheild/sound insulator, then dark saddle carpet...

then i would go ahead and scuffpad the hell out if everything and fill prime it all.. load it up.. then when you prep for paint, you can 320 the heck out of it for paint prep...

 

[Chief Brody]

then i would go ahead and scuffpad the hell out if everything and fill prime it all.. load it up.. then when you prep for paint, you can 320 the heck out of it for paint prep...

I still got to clean / sand / scuff or blast the bed out...I may need to stand on the floor section...would you wait to prime it or go ahead and prime it?

 

[Chief Brody]

Oh yeah...and I still got the dash metal parts to do....

 

[ryoken]

it's always best if you can do as much of one process at once as you can.. so yes, prepping the whole floor, then a heavy fill prime coat on everything...

you can use zinc here and there on your raw stuff as you work your way thru the prep, if it's gonna take a bit and want to protect it till fill prime...